The last human cannonball - Byron Rogers

Byron Rogers' latest collection of travel pieces follows the winning formula of his first book for Aurum, An Audience with an Elephant (1 85410 786 0 hb, 1 85410 901 4 pb): in search of - and finding - a remarkable array of quirky, whimsical and singular individuals. But as well as such characters as the pensioner on a Saga holiday who decided to swim across the Amazon, this book sees for the first time Rogers meeting a number of undeniably famous people: Hollywood stars, legends of children's radio serials he had idolised in childhood - even rock stars like Mick Jagger.;But, as one might expect, Rogers' encounters with celebrity have their own unexpected outcomes. Burt Lancaster rants to him about transsexuality. Rita Hayworth is most worried about her neighbour's TV aerial. A retired star of the silent screen turns out to live in Henley-on-Thames. Rogers' last book for Aurum, The Bank Manager and the Holy Grail (1 85410 949 9) received excellent coverage and was reprinted twice; his biography of J.L. Carr, The Last Englishman (1 85410 838 7) reprinted four times and was hailed by Simon Jenkins as "a miniature masterpiece".